Only Lonely Soldier
by Zelas Metalium
Summary: Gourry gets a glimpse of a possible dark future if Lina were to ever cast the Giga Slave again. A few days later, the three remaining mazoku lords serving under Ruby Eye Shabrinigdu confront Lina with a horrifying ultimatum. Will she be forced to cast it?
1. Chapter 1 A Dark Future

**I originally posted this a long time ago, and at some point I wrote a second chapter, but I never posted the second chapter because I wasn't really sure if I liked it or not... but I decided that I would go ahead and post it now... **

**WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS**

-The first chapter is somewhat dark. The second won't be as dark though.

-This fanfic contains some hints of yuri. It s very little and brief. Only in the first chapter. It's meant more to be of a sense of control than romantic.

-Character deaths! Yes, main characters will die! Again, only in the first chapter which is just a possible future.

-Slayers and everything that it entails does not belong to me... much to my dismay.

-Takes place sometime during _Slayers_ TRY.

-The first chapter is based on the lyrics for Valgaav's image song (the English version), also where I got the title.

* * *

_**ONLY LONELY SOLDIER**_

Dazed, Gourry walked through the forest as the surrounding trees burned. He couldn't believe what was happening. Entire villages were being destroyed; either burned to the ground or just blown up. People were running past him, mad with terror. They all screamed the name of their tormentor...Lina Inverse.

He didn't want to believe, couldn't believe. He looked ahead and saw that the path ended abruptly. He figured that an overpowered Dragon Slave probably blew the rest away. He stood at the edge of a great hole where the forest path should have been. He looked across it to the other side and saw a figure standing in a pillar of flames. He recognized it at once.

"Lina..." He whispered with anguish. He could see her hair turned golden by the power of the Giga Slave...the power of the Lord of Nightmares. He then saw another figure rise from the bottom of the hole. He recognized that one as well. It was Valgaav. Valgaav raised his hand as if to send a powerful spell towards Lina, however, he never got the chance. Lina raised her own hand and a blast with more power than a hundred Dragon Slaves fired out towards Valgaav. He was incinerated on contact.

"How is that possible..." was the only thing Gourry could think to say. Lina looked at him once, her expression of hate never faltering, and then she turned away.

~~~~  
Lina's dark rampage continued for weeks without end. Rumors of her evil nature and destructive deeds preceded her and quickly spread to every corner of the world, bringing new meanings to her old nicknames: Goddess of Destruction and King of Hades. Mazoku ran wild, taking advantage of the chaos; many even joined Lina in her dark, fiery fury. Some people began to think that she was the new mazoku lord, if not the Lord of Nightmares herself. Evil creatures of all varieties began to either bow down to her directly or to worship her from afar. Everyone watched in horrified amazement, as Lina Inverse quickly became evil's only lonely soldier.

The next time Gourry saw her, some weeks later; she was standing in the ruble that was once Sairuune. Gourry looked through the many piles of corpses until he found the ones he sought: those of his old friends Amelia and Zelgadiss. He even saw Prince Phil's and Sylphiel's bodies.

"How could you do this Lina...?" He buried them quickly and went to search for her, knowing she was still nearby. Sure enough, he found her standing with a beautiful golden-haired woman. The woman stroked Lina's hair, like a loving mother would her child. They were talking in hushed whispers. Gourry crept closer until he could make out what they were saying.

"You have done well my pet...my precious Lina... I always knew that you would..." The golden-haired woman said.

"Thank you, L-sama..." Lina said in reply.

"L-sama...no... It can't be! Not the Lord of Nightmares!?" Gourry said in horrified awe.

"But...L-sama...why me? Why did you pick me? Not that I'm not grateful or anything..." Lina continued. Although what Gourry was hearing disturbed him greatly, he was overjoyed by hearing Lina's voice again... it had been so long...Then the golden-haired woman, now known to be L-sama, replied:

"Because Lina... you were not afraid of me. You cast my spell when no one else would. I was greatly saddened when I had to give you back then... but I knew you would be mine again. By the way, have you killed him yet... the swordsman?"

"No, L-sama. Although I am certain he is tracking me. He's probably here somewhere mourning the loss of his friends..."

"What are you waiting on my Lina?"

"What does it matter if I kill him tonight or tomorrow... he's just one more insignificant creature...I'll kill him eventually." Gourry was hurt deeply by here words, he had had many people make threats like that about him before, but never had they hurt him like this. Despite this, he kept listening.

"It matters, Lina, because I am afraid that he still has control of your heart, to some degree...you know how I don't like to share my things, Lina..." As she said this, L-sama leaned in closely to Lina, eventually filling in the gap and kissing her gently. After several moments L-sama jumped back, alarmed. In an instant L-sama burned in a golden, fiery array as Lina whispered:

"I know..." Lina turned away from the golden ashes that was the Lord of Nightmares and walked away.

Gourry was stunned. In a single moment the most powerful dark lord...the lord of ALL nightmares, and evil, creation itself, was destroyed. And Lina destroyed her... effortlessly...

Gourry followed her to the next town where she met up with Xelloss.

"Ah...Xelloss, just the mazoku priest I wanted to see... tell me; who are you working for now?" Lina asked smiling.

"Why Lina, it's nice to see you as well. As for your question... I'm afraid that it's a secret!" Xelloss said with that strange grin he always has.

"And I'm afraid that was the wrong answer!" With that said, Lina fired a relatively small blast at Xelloss, just enough to cause him immense pain. "I am the lord of the mazoku race now that L-sama is dead! Are you so pathetic that you didn't notice that the presence of your creator and master had vanished?"

"My apologies..." Xelloss said as he glared up at Lina.

"Come on Xelloss, we have matters to attend to..."

Without moving Xelloss bravely asked, "Have you killed Gabriev yet?"

Lina stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned around. "Why does everyone insist on asking me that!?"

"It was just a question, Lina... -sama." He added hesitantly.

"Well, it was your last... I can't take it anymore! I'm tired of you Xelloss... good-bye." Before Xelloss even had time to protest Lina had killed him. Although Gourry was never very fond of Xelloss, he couldn't help but to feel a little sadness by his death.

After she killed Xelloss, Lina immediately started to destroy the village. One man got up the courage to beg for mercy.

"Please, Lina-sama, spare our village!"

"Hmmm....why should I? Oh, and... Call me L-sama!" For this man's courage, he was rewarded with instant death.

When the village was nothing but cinders, Lina still remained, lingering, waiting for something. Then she said this, seemingly to the wind:

"Come on out, Gourry. I know you're here somewhere. I've been putting your death off, but... people are questioning..."

Gourry slowly stepped out from his hiding place to face her.

"Lina, you don't have to do this...any of this."

"I'm sorry, Gourry... but I do." with that she fired out a single explosive spell...

Gourry awoke with a start, his heart pounding fast.

"What the...?" _It was all a dream? What does it mean? Could that possibly be the true power of the Giga Slave...? Is that what would happen if Lina ever cast it... successfully? Wait...Lina!_

These thoughts continued to circle in Gourry's head as he hurried downstairs to the tavern part of the inn where he usually met up with Lina. To his immense relief she was calmly sitting at a table with a tiny smile on her face as she waved at him. She looked completely normal, her hair was its normal fiery red instead of gold, and the look of hatred had been replaced with her cheerful demeanor.

Then he caught sight of the person sitting next to her... Xelloss.

"Slept well I trust?" Xelloss asked with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Ok Xelloss, what was that all about!? What's going on!?" Gourry screamed at the mazoku.

If at all possible Xelloss' smile grew as he said:

"Well now...that is a secret!"

* * *

**Well there you have it.....not much but take it or leave. Feel free to comment if you'd like.**


	2. Chapter 2 A New Spell

**Ok, here is the second chapter. Still not really pleased with this chapter, but oh well... here it is. In this chapter I kind of played with combining spells and created one of my own! ^_^ Anyway, review let me know what you think!**

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Chapter 2

For the next several days, Gourry kept a close watch on Xelloss, knowing that the mysterious priest was up to something. He just wasn't sure what, and the fact that thinking wasn't so much his forte wasn't helping to figure it out. He hadn't had any more strange dreams since that night, but the strange (well, strang_er_) vibes he was getting from Xelloss were enough to keep him on edge. He hadn't said anything to Lina even though she had questioned him several times about his odd behavior. And Xelloss still wouldn't tell him anything. Not like he really expected him to. Just when Gourry was about to just drop the matter; Xelloss gave him reason not to. He had approached the trickster priest one more time, and had gotten a different answer.

"Don't worry. You're about to find out… or if not you, then Lina will certainly figure it out for herself."

Not long after that, the forest path that they were on opened up to a valley facing a large stone wall. The side of the mountain looked as though someone had sliced it clean in half, with the other half missing. The small group stopped.

"I don't remember seeing anything like this on this path before…" Lina said as she stared at the strange scene.

"That's because you've never been here before… at least not with me." Xelloss replied with his usual grin.

"What does being with you have to do with it?" She asked suspiciously.

"Everything. The only ones who can find this place are the priests and generals to the five mazoku lords… me being one of them." Xelloss explained.

"So what is it?" Lina asked as she stared at the strange rock structure before her. Xelloss pointed his priest's staff at the smooth stone surface. Before their eyes, a cave entrance appeared, leading into a long, dark, narrow passage.

"You'll have to go in to find out." Lina looked into the passageway suspiciously. She trusted very little of what Xelloss said… although he really didn't say much of anything. But still, she had to admit that she was curious.

"Ok Gourry, keep your guard up. Have the Sword of Light ready in case we need it." Lina instructed.

"What!? Lina, you're not actually going in there, are you!?" Gourry shrieked.

"Well, I have a feeling that Xelloss would find a way to get me in there whether I wanted to or not. So I might as well make all our lives easier and just go in." She said with a shrug and looked at Xelloss who nodded his agreement. "So, let's go." She walked into the dark passage.

Gourry hesitated and looked toward Xelloss. Xelloss just smiled and followed Lina. Sighing, Gourry did the same.

* * *

Deep in the heart of the mountain was a large circular chamber made of black stone and crystal. On the far wall, there were five crystallized panels running vertically all the way up to the cave's stone-spiked ceiling. Two of the crystals had turned completely black.

"Let me guess, one for each of the five mazoku lords… and the two black ones belonged to Phibrizzo and Gaav." Lina said as she walked up to examine one of the crystals.

"That is correct."

"So, what is this, some kind of command center?"

"Very good, miss Lina! This is where the five lords will occasionally meet. However, I must admit it's not often; they mainly like to keep their plans to themselves. They can also use this place to give out commands to lesser demons that they may not want to come directly to their domain."

"But I thought you said that only the priests and generals could find this place?"

"Yes, that's true, we are the only ones that know the location and can seek it out… However the lords can summon mazoku here without having the location revealed... but not humans."

"I see… so why bring me here?"

"Isn't it obvious? We require your skills, sorceress." came a cold, ferocious voice. Lina and Gourry looked up to the panels. Three figures now appeared in the crystals. One was of a young man with black hair and a cold scowl on his face. To his left was a young woman with hair the color of the sea, and to his right, another young woman with silvery-purple hair and a wolf-like look in her eyes.

"Dynast, I presume?"

"That's _Lord_ Dynast to you, mortal!" the man roared.

"You're no lord of mine!" Lina replied cockily.

"Why you obnoxious little human…" The girl to his left, Deep Sea Dolphin Lina assumed, said through clenched teeth.

"What do you want with me?"

"We wish for the same thing as Lord Hellmaster." Dynast replied.

"Phibrizzo? He was insane! He got what he wanted; death."

"Yes, maybe… he wished for you to cast the Giga Slave and send the world down into destruction, but he underestimated your abilities and brought the Lord of Nightmares here instead." Dynast summarized.

"And what do you want? World peace?"

"I'd watch your attitude miss Inverse. One word from us and Xelloss will kill you."

"Now Dynast… I do believe you meant to say with one word from _me_? After all, he is _my_ priest and general." said the woman from the third crystal with a glare at Dynast.

_And that must be Greater Beast Zelas Metallium… _Lina thought to herself.

Dynast returned her glare.

"We want you to cast the Giga Slave once more, only with a few modifications." Dynast continued.

"What kind of modifications?" Lina was really not liking the sound of this at all.

"That doesn't matter. All you need to know right now is that every day that you don't cast it, we'll kill one thousand people; and that may very well include those whom you hold dear."

"You bastard!" Lina yelled to the crystal. Dynast's expression didn't falter. "If you don't tell me how you want me to modify it then how do you expect me to cast it? Not that I plan to, mind you."

"Do you really intend on letting all those people die then? Don't worry about the modifications; we'll let you know what they are when the time comes. You have five days to make your decision before we begin killing people." With that, the images of the three mazoku lords vanished.

"Dammit! What the hell kind of choice is that!? There's no telling what kind of modifications they have in mind or what they might do… but a thousand people a day?" Lina stared at the now blank crystals wondering what kind of horrors were in store for her.

* * *

That night they camped out outside the mouth of the cave. Gourry was charged with the noble duty of gathering firewood. He was alone when Xelloss approached him.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, then I'll tell you what you've wanted to know… that dream was a… vision of sorts; of what would happen if Lina were to go along with their plan."

"What? Are you saying that, that was the future?" Gourry asked him, terrified.

"I'm saying that's one possible future. It could be changed."

"How?"

"Simple, keep Lina from casting the Giga Slave." Xelloss said lightly with a smile as if they were simply talking about whether it would be cloudy out tomorrow.

"But then they'll kill all of those people…"

"It's possible that there's a way around that… but first you have to convince Lina not to cast it."

"Why are you helping us? I thought you served them?" Gourry asked, confused.

"You actually thought correctly! Well, I serve one of them anyway… and let's just say that my master was the next to die… a fate she wants to change, even at the cost of going against the other two. Don't read too much into this; you see, my master is only concerned for her own well being… not yours."

"How do you guys know this stuff? About what's going to happen?"

"Ah, I'm afraid that is a secret!"

* * *

Gourry returned to the campsite trying to figure out how he was going to talk Lina out of casting the Giga Slave. The only way she would even think about it would be to have a way to make sure no one would be killed. So Xelloss' plan for getting around that was crucial. Gourry saw Lina sitting alone by the fire they had made. Slowly he approached her and sat down beside her.

"Are you really planning on casting it?" He asked her quietly. Lina turned to look at him. She was glad at least that she didn't have to go through another explanation of what happened in the cave (She had already had to explain it to him twice).

"I don't really see any way around it. If I cast it, at least there's a chance that no one but me will be harmed, but if I don't, then they could wipe out all of humanity in a matter of days…"

"What if there was a way to not cast it and find another way of stopping those guys?" Lina looked up at him.

"How?" She asked, but Gourry just shook his head.

"I don't know… Just something that Xelloss said… He might have a way around it."

"Xelloss? Why would he help us?"

"Because if you cast the Giga Slave, then me and Lord Beastmaster will be killed." Lina turned to see Xelloss leaning against a tree.

"You and Zelas?" Lina asked. He nodded. "So this plan has been orchestrated solely by Dynast and Dolphin?" Again he nodded.

"Mostly by Lord Dynast."

"Lord Beastmaster is against this plan and is willing to help you in order to keep you from casting the Giga Slave. Let it be clear though, she is doing this for her own self preservation… not for you."

"Understood. So what's the plan? We only have five days."

"Yes, I will get back to you tomorrow." Lina nodded as he disappeared. Then she turned to Gourry.

"Why did he approach you about this?" She asked him.

"I had this dream… apparently it was of the future… He showed it to me so that I could convince you not to cast it… Or something like that…" He shrugged.

"What happened?" Lina asked. Gourry looked away. "That bad, huh?" He nodded. Lina could tell that he didn't want to talk about it so she dropped it. She figured she could always ask again later.

* * *

"Lord Beastmaster! Surely you can't be serious…" Xelloss looked to his master in disbelief. Xelloss had returned to Wolf Pack Island where Greater Beast Zelas Metallium resides.

Zelas turned to face Xelloss, glaring at him with her cold beastly eyes.

"Do I look like I jest? I want to speak with the Inverse girl myself… after all; she will be casting my special spell… I know that she likes the science of magic, so I think she'll enjoy hearing the specific inner workings of it… besides, spells work best when one knows what one is truly dealing with."

"Yes, my lord." Xelloss bowed and waited to be dismissed.

* * *

The next day, Xelloss instructed Lina to head to an open field a few miles north from the mazoku cave. When she reached the field, she looked around cautiously.

Finally Xelloss appeared on the other side of the field with a large winged anthropomorphic wolf at his side. Lina met them halfway in the field and looked to the winged wolf suspiciously. Then the wolf transformed into the beautiful silvery-purple haired woman with brilliant red eyes that was in one of the crystallized panels.

"Zelas Metallium… I wasn't expecting you to come…" Lina stated as she stared directly into the mazoku lord's eyes. Zelas met her stare calmly.

"Well, I have a very special spell for you… and I wanted to give it to you personally."

"What kind of spell is it?"

Zelas smiled. "It combines a variety of spells that are powerful enough on their own with my power and your power for one result."

"And what is that result?"

"We are going to temporarily bind Dynast and Deep Sea Dolphin. Hopefully, by the time the spell is broken and they wake up, you'll be gone and there will no longer be a threat of you or anyone for that matter, to ever cast the Giga Slave." Zelas replied. Lina nodded slowly, thinking.

"What spells does it combine?"

"It calls upon my power and is set up similar to the Dragon Slave. It uses my own spell, Zelas Brid to give an initial attack and stun them. Next it uses a combination of Dark Mist and Demona Crystal to create a dark fog and freezes them within it."

"And you're sure that this will work?" Lina asked her suspiciously.

"Yes, it should… if it doesn't work with you casting it by yourself, then I'll join in with you."

"Yeah… casting it with the one that it calls upon… that would make it ten times as powerful…"

"Exactly…" Zelas said with a dark smile. Lina nodded.

"Ok, I'll do it, but we'll have to find Dynast and Dolphin… we can't cast it in the cave… that's just an image projection…"

"That's correct; we'll have to go directly to them. Let me handle that. When the time comes, I'll take you to them." Zelas looked over to Xelloss, who stepped forward and handed Lina a piece of worn parchment. On it was written everything she needed to know about the spell in order to cast it successfully. "Show that to no one. Xelloss has orders to destroy that parchment the minute you learn the spell." Before Lina could ask anything else, Zelas was gone.

* * *

Lina spent the next few days studying the spell and learning how to cast it correctly. Finally it was time to find the two mazoku lords. Lina was instructed to meet Zelas at the same field as before.

"Have you prepared the spell?" Zelas asked.

"Yes."

"Good. First we'll get Dynast. Even if we can only seal him, Dolphin will back out without his support… but still it won't hurt to seal her as well."

"Where is he?" Lina asked. Zelas stared at her suspiciously, debating whether or not she should give out the location of her colleague's domain.

"A place close to the North Pole..." Zelas replied hesitantly as she held out her hand. "So, if you're ready…"

"I am." Lina took her hand and felt herself leave the field behind. She closed her eyes and reopened them in a large black marble corridor. She could hear two voices talking in the room ahead. She looked to Zelas who motioned her to stay quiet. Lina obeyed and listened to the voices.

"I'm telling you Dynast, I don't trust her! She's been against this plan from the start! She's planning something… I don't like this, something's not right!"

Zelas smiled to herself. _As observant as always, Dolphin…_ Zelas thought as she heard Dolphin's voice come from the room.

"Dolphin, why would she want to stop this?"

"Why else? For herself! That's all she cares about! We can't trust her! She always has her own agenda!"

Zelas went ahead into the room. Lina however, stayed back, waiting for a signal from Zelas to take action.

"You're faith in me is so touching Dolphin…" Zelas cooed sarcastically.

"Zelas! What are you doing here?!" Dolphin cried out, alarmed by her sudden appearance.

"Why, proceeding with my own agenda of course! You were completely right not to trust me… You really should give her more credit Dynast… Come on out Lina!" Zelas called out as she smiled gleefully at their horrified faces. Lina emerged as Dynast and Dolphin stared at her.

"Zelas, what do you think you're doing?!" Dynast sneered. Zelas just continued to smile.

"I'm going to make sure I live to see a few more millennia…" Zelas raised her hands, palms out and shot giant beams of light at each of them, knocking them both back. Lina realized that this must be the original form of Zelas Brid.

"You can't defeat us so easily…" Dynast said. Zelas simply shrugged.

"I know that… Lina, the spell!" Lina nodded and started chanting.

"_Thou who art lord of beasts_

_Thou who art lord of mysteries…"_

"What kind of spell is that?" Dynast asked. He prepared his own spell and fired it at them, but since they were in the middle of casting a spell, they were protected.

"Damn, Dynast, what are they doing!?" Dolphin cried on the verge of panic.

"_I call upon thee, swear myself to thee…"_

Lina chanted as Zelas gathered her powers.

"_Rain frozen darkness upon those who stand before us…"_

They chanted together.

"Don't worry Dolphin, they can't defeat us!" Dynast replied cockily.

"_Let these fools be consumed and contained, by the power you and I possess…"_

The two had finally completed the chant; all that was left now were the power words.

"_JUUOU ZERASU SLAVE!"_

Zelas aimed her spell at Dynast while Lina went for Dolphin. Cold, black fog encircled them and all they could hear were their demonic screams. Slowly the fog dissipated and revealed the two mazoku lords, completely frozen. Lina breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it!" Lina shouted triumphantly.

"Yes, we did…"

"How long will that hold them?"

"Who knows… months, years, centuries…" Zelas shrugged and turned away from her frozen colleagues. "Now, I shall return you to the field safely. I appreciate you helping me with this pesky problem… but please understand that after today, we go back to being enemies." Lina nodded.

* * *

Lina and Gourry were on the road again unaccompanied by anyone else. Lina was glad that the situation was finally wrapped up, but there was still one thing bothering her…

"Hey Gourry… are you ever going to tell me what that dream of yours showed you?"

"Hmm… why? You stopped it from happening didn't you?"  
"Yeah… I'm just curious, is all."

"Oh… well if you really want to know… it was horrible. Imagine the worst possible thing ever." Gourry told her. Lina thought for a moment.

"The world was destroyed?"

"Nope." Lina thought again.

"Everyone was brutally killed, _then_ the world was destroyed?"

"Nope!"

"Well, then I give up! What happened!?" Gourry smiled.

"You ate everyone's food of course! So the entire world went hungry! Especially me!"

"FIREBALL!"

"Aahh! That was uncalled for!" Gourry screamed as he tried to the spell.

"Take it back!" Lina yelled at his retreating form.

"I just told you what I saw! You're the one who asked!"

"FIREBALL!!"

"Ok, ok! I take it back!"

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please review and give me your thoughts!**


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